TRAVELLER Digest 515

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) GURPS:Traveller (was Re: FASA, or elsewhere?) by "Christopher Weuve" <caw@intercon.com>
  2) two new Products by john.bogan@asb.com
  3) New TNE Stuff by James Kundert <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>

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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 19:46:02 -0500
From: "Christopher Weuve" <caw@intercon.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: GURPS:Traveller (was Re: FASA, or elsewhere?)
Message-ID: <9512141946.AA02657@caw.intercon.com>

Christopher Griffen said:
> SJG:  Maybe.  But they'd be more likely to take the Traveller
> background and make it a GURPS sourcebook than actually
> continuing development along the lines of the established Traveller
> rules.

SJG asked GDW some time ago about doing GURPS: Traveller, but GDW said no.

Christopher Weuve  [caw@intercon.com]
I speak only for myself.


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Date: Fri, 15 Dec 95 00:00:04 -0500
From: john.bogan@asb.com
To: traveller@mpgn.com
Subject: two new Products
Message-ID: <9512150000.0002I1A@asb.com>


Two new products hit the shelves this week:
the Regency Combat Vehicle Guide; and
The Guilded Lilly, an adventure in Diaspora sector.

Here are sanitized, general audience, no-spoilers
reviews (unexpurgated comments on Guilded Lilly will
follow in a separate, clearly marked post):


Regency Combat Vehicle Guide
48 pages, $12 (US)

32 TL-14 and -15 tanks, APCs, fire support vehicles,
command variants, etc., etc. With 22 illustrations.

4 pages on Regency army and marine terminology,
standardizations, organization, and unit dispositions.

1 page ad for the Regency Starship Guide (early '96)

What can I say? Everything from Norris Grav Tanks to
meson artillery to a military air-raft variants. You want
stats and descriptions of combat vehicles, you got 'em.

Folks down in RC-land can use most of this as a guide
to relic Imperial (and with a name change, Solomani) vehicles.

Stats are laid out in standard format (which unfortunately
includes a Regency version of that dopey "computer screen" border).

Recommended.

and now on to:


(no-spoilers review)

The Guilded Lilly
Part One of the Virus Redux Epic
48 pages, $12 (US)

Based on the ads for it and the player breifing at the
start, I can safely say this much about the plot:

The players are Arces sent by Papa's LoROG (Long
Range Operations Group, formerly just "the Planning
Group") on a mission beyond the AO to an important
crossroads world in Diaspora sector in order to make
friendly contact on behalf of the Coalition. While there,
they encounter something different: a _newly built_
trader, courtesy of the Guild. Highjinks ensue.

First the good news: a) finally, an RC adventure that
doesn't start with the premise of the players assaulting
someplace; b) it requires no other products save the
rulebook itself (though that means about 4 pages
are reprinted from other sources, which is also bad news);
c)_Victrix deck plans!_; d) actual painted cover art, not
the computer-art stuff we've been getting; e) enough
info to put faces on the usual "faceless NPCs" at the
destination world.

Of course, now's the time to drop the other shoe:

It needs major revision of the actual playing out of
events, and possibly the basic premise.

Some events are highly contrived, others pop up
very abruptly. (they seem to have forgotten the
"Hitchcock principle" i.e.: set a bomb off, the
audience jumps. Let the audience know a bomb will
go off in a few minutes, and suspense will build
the entire time) In balancing things for the finale,
they also seem to have forgotten the crew complement
of the players' ship.

Things are also focusses tightly (painfully so) through
the lens of "Coalition=Good, Guild=Bad". There are
one or two opportunites for the players to stick their
foots in their mouths, but unless they practically murder
someone, a lot of local goodwill will virtually drop in their
laps.

Technical faults: the maps and deck plans need a scale,
and there's a few really glaring proofreading screwups.

Finally, I'd advise against putting aliens in the crews of
other ships in port unless you're ready for players to
press you for details on their world of origin. Also, if
you have any access to CT articles on Vegans and
Bwaps, I'd strongly suggest using them for any aliens
rather than "Aslan, or even Vargr", as mentioned in the
text.


I'll be more specific about complaints (and fixes for them)
in a followup post.


John Bogan

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Date: Thu, 14 Dec 95 22:28:17 PST
From: James Kundert <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: New TNE Stuff
Message-ID: <9512150628.AA22196@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>

Seen in stores today:

 -The Gilded Lilly: First in the "Vampire Redux Epic" series. Basic Traveller
fun in the RC. More like oldtime Trav than anything else I've seen recently.
Has deckplans for the Victrix and (finally!) the Jayhawk.

 -Regency Combat Vehicle Guide: Already reviewed here. A collection of vehicles
taken from the pages of Striker II and listed in full TNE/FF&S format, complete
with pictures and bits of color text. Is it worth it? Depends on your game.
Should you buy it? Given GDW's dedication to Traveller, especially when compared
to the recent and ongoing WotC fiasco, I think you should buy this book to
show support for GDW's activities. 'Nuff said.

James Kundert <j.kundert@genie.geis.com>
              <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>

There was a young lady named Bright,
Whose speed was much faster, much faster than Light.
She departed one day in a relative way,
And returned on the previous Night.
   --Albert & the Heart of Gold

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 515
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